September 29
2006

It wasn’t until Ms. Rhimes adopted a child, now 4, that she began spending time at home and really watching television. “I realized a lot of the really good character development is happening on TV,” said Ms. Rhimes, who was huge fan of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” “The language was great, the world was great, and you completely invested in those characters. I’m still not over its cancellation.”

I'd gone with staggering around punch drunk, defiant to the end, grinning like mad whilst the corpses of lesser tv shows lay strewn around her. But I suppose graceful exit could mean the same sort of thing.

I have to say here that people are frequently misquoted in articles. The NY Times does it all the time. Reporters often take notes during their interview, and then when they get back to wherever they type it up, they don't always have perfect recall of every word that was said.

It's possible she said that, and it's also possible it's a kind of verbal shorthand. Many people consider "Angel" season 5 as a continuation of "Buffy," and Angel was cancelled, signalling an end to some of the most brilliant writing on television. Even if it wasn't that, Buffy's ending still felt like a cancellation, because lots of us grieved over its ending in the same way.

In the end, I don't really care to be picayune about how someone praises Buffy. It's clear Buffy was an inspiration to Rhimes, and you can often see it in the writing on her show. Whether she used the word "ended" or "cancelled" is really not important. Fixating on words like that sometimes comes off as harsh and critical, and I have no desire to be that way about a Buffy fan.

Not terribly surprised that Shonda Rhimes was a Buffy fan. I really adore Grey's Anatomy as of late... in some ways it's a guilty pleasure, but a lot of the characters are really well developed and fascinating to watch. It's interesting to draw parallels between the two shows (now that I think about it, Christina's transformation reminds me of Spike's in a weird way.) Plus, it totally makes me cry all the time because I'm a sappy sobby wuss who apparently like to cry.

Although Buffy wasn't cancelled it is still sorely missed.
Angel I am still very bitter about. I think I like this lady a lot.
Ever notice how MOST of the INTELLEGENT people in the world ARE Buffy fans? Just sayin.

Not that it's really germane to this discussion, but I too would like to proclaim myself as a crybaby sappy sobby weeping teary candy-ass wuss who blubbers and bawls like a little girl.

And jvl, thanks for your vote of confidence -- I agree that simon's imagery bears illustrating and I dunno about willowy's rendering talents, but for a graphic artist, my comic-drawing skills skills are fairly mediocre. In fact, if I did an comic book, it would probably look a lot like this. (Or even more likely, like this.)

I sho' ain't no John Cassaday. (Mmmmm.... John Cassady/Homer Simpson's food voice...)

Willowy and QuoterGal, I assure you my intentions were pure. There was no pokin' goin' on. Simply, Simon's imaginative, splendid sentence struck me as deserving of several pages of illustrated badassery panels before culminating in an illustrious, epic splash page.

QG, one of the guys in your first linked page looks like my cousin Pete. Your second link, I see, is on Wolfram & Hart's website. Does that mean you work there? If so, would you introduce me to Lilah? I know she's dead, but I can overlook some things.

jvl, although I do work at Wolfram & Hart, I'm a really minor artist-factotum, working in the Triangle-Packing & Symbology Department, and I don't have access to the High Evil Muckety-mucks like Lilah and Lindsey. I haven't even sold my soul to the Evil One, I've just rented it out to him a part-time basis. I'm not really bad, I just draw that way.

(And by the way, isn't "triangle-packing" the coolest notion? Or is it just me? And I say that with deepest apologies to narky, who wrote what has to be one of the all-time best whedonesque reasons for disliking a Buffy episode title: "Gingerbread is a cool word, triangle is not. It is disgusting and reminds me of math. I do not wish to be reminded of math when watching BtVS, please."

This phrase has been incorporated into my daily phraseology & it still makes me laugh...)

QuoterGal, no re-programming for pat-o'-many-integers, please. While I might be convinced there's a surfeit of perverse algebra, this world needs pat's kind of geometric filth.

And for a real stretch, if Warren's ex, Katrina, went by the nickname Trina and she and Angel got it on (bang a gong), the resulting ship would be Triangel. And if she loved Angel and Warren both concurrently, Triangel would be part of a triangle.

And Willowy, just sell your sketches as portraits of JFK, Jr. Who's to know?